SAN DIEGO– The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) has welcomed recent statements and efforts made by President Obama, the U.S. Surgeon General and congressional leaders regarding the ban of conversion therapy for minors. The President’s statement supports CAMFT’s position on sexual orientation change efforts released in September 2014.
“CAMFT emphatically supports the statements and efforts by President Obama, the US Surgeon General and congressional leaders regarding the ban of conversion therapy for minors,” said Jodi Baldel, CAMFT board president and licensed marriage and family therapist. CAMFT has previously affirmed the legislative intent of California Senate Bill 1172, a 2012 law designed to protect the physical and psychological well-being of minors and to protect minors from exposure to serious harms caused by sexual orientation change efforts. “California has been a leader in advocating the banning of conversion therapy on minors and CAMFT is thrilled this issue has been elevated to a national platform so that our profession and our association can continue to forcefully denounce the notion that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is a mental illness.”
The Stop Harming Our Kids Congressional Resolution of 2015, was recently introduced to Congress by Representative Jackie Speier (D-14). The resolution makes a national declaration that “conversion therapy directed at minors is dangerous and harmful.”
“The Stop Harming Our Kids Congressional Resolution of 2015, the messages by President Obama and the U.S. Surgeon General, along with positions by CAMFT and other mental health organizations, demonstrate that, as a nation, we will protect LGBTQ youth from this harmful and discredited practice,” said James Guay, a licensed marriage and family therapist and member of CAMFT.
